Klapisch: Patience is not a virtue at Citi Field

Mets' Eric Campbell (29) hits a two-run single during the first inning of Saturday's game against the Nationals. Hitting a ball out at cavernous Citi Field is a different story.

It was obvious Terry Collins wasn’t just pleased by the 5-2 win over the Nationals on Saturday. He was deeply relieved for a return to normalcy from his offense, which continues to thrive away from Citi Field. Everything looked so easy, including Bartolo Colon outpitching Gio Gonzalez and helping the Mets erase the memory of the last three days.

Still, it would be a mistake to dismiss the flaws that were revealed this week, especially in the back-to-back shutouts by the Yankees at Citi Field. Sure, Masahiro Tanaka was lights out as he usually is, and there’s no shame being overwhelmed by that otherworldly splitter. But the same lineup that exploded for 21 runs in the Bronx couldn’t touch rookie Chase Whitley, either, which underscored the belief that the Mets suffer from an ongoing disadvantage in their own ballpark.

The debate about Citi Field’s dimensions are not new, of course. The cavernous outfield has been a problem since 2009, when the new venue was unveiled. In fact, ownership reacted to complaints by Mets hitters in 2011, lowering the 16-foot wall in left-center to a more manageable 8 feet, and bringing in the walls in the gaps by as much as 17 feet.

Still, it’s a chore to hit one out in Flushing, as Citi Field ranks 13th in the National League in home run park-factor. It’s one reason why the Mets are under .500 there (9-11).

Should the fences be moved in again, turning the place into a near clone of Yankee Stadium? Jeff Wilpon told the Daily News, “I don’t see any reason why we would.” Except that his hitters went berserk in the cozier setting in the Bronx, crushing six HRs in two games.

The real problem is the organization’s stubborn insistence on long at-bats, a philosophy that’s been the norm in the big leagues for almost a decade. Extending a plate appearance to a fourth or fifth pitch theoretically increases the odds of a mistake fastball slogging through the heart of the strike zone. This allows for an ambush – a home run – or at least a base on balls, two of the most valued metrics in baseball today.

But the home-run-or-walk tenet only works if you can reach the fences. A fat four-seamer is a gift for the likes of Giancarlo Stanton or Troy Tulowitzki, but the Mets have no such sluggers in their lineup.

Instead, they’re weighted down with second-tier talents like Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud and Eric Young Jr. David Wright’s home run/fly ball ratio is at career-low 4 percent, and Curtis Granderson is batting .128 with one HR in 78 at-bats at Citi Field. It hardly seemed like a coincidence that he went 4-for-8 with two HRs and five RBI in the two games at Yankee Stadium. Clearly, Granderson felt more comfortable – and confident – with the smaller dimensions.

You don’t have to ask the Mets where they’d prefer to hit, as the pressure to produce runs at home has spilled over into a season-long malaise. Before Saturday’s relative breakout against the Nationals, the Mets had scored three runs or fewer in 37 of their first 41 games.

So the solution, it seems, is to move the fences, which is unlikely for now, or let their hitters swing away without worrying about the opponents’ pitch quotas. Daniel Murphy clearly is this kind of free swinger, and succeeding because of it. He leads the Mets with a .320 average and .827 OPS.

Yet, ironically, Murphy’s approach represents the very overenthusiasm Sandy Alderson is trying to strain out of the organization. The GM recently told the Star-Ledger that his system of waiting and waiting, rooted in the “Money Ball’’ philosophy, is “something in between aggressiveness and passivity. It’s aggressiveness with judgment, or patiently aggressive. Or aggressively patient.”

If it sounds complicated, maybe that’s because it is, perhaps more than hitting should be. But Alderson isn’t backing down or backing away, telling Mets hitters, “This is what we’re looking for. If you don’t play that way, then realize we’re looking for somebody else. Right now.’’

The mantra has been a total failure: The Mets led the NL in pitches per plate appearance in 2013, and they’re ranked No. 3 in the league this year. Obviously, they’re waiting, like their boss demands. But to what end, especially at home?

The Met are batting .200 at Citi Field, or 57 points lower than on the road. Their .302 slugging percentage improves by 84 points when they leave town.

The rejoinder, of course, is that the Mets are assembling a generation of star pitchers, customized for success in their big ballpark. No one doubts Matt Harvey is a superstar, but the up-and-coming talent behind him – Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Rafael Montero – offers no guarantee of elite-caliber excellence in an industry where pitching is at its peak.

To put it simply, everyone is developing great, young pitching these days. The pendulum has swung that far. It’s hitting – and real slugging — that now serves as the difference maker, in which case the Mets hardly are ahead of the curve.

We’ll see if that point registers with Alderson, and whether he uses his pitching assets to trade for a legitimate run producer, one who can thrive even in Citi Field. But unless something changes, the Mets appear headed for their sixth straight losing season.